1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of cosmetics application devices including brushes. More specifically the present invention relates to a brush including a handle base which is hollow and preferably has a generally tubular housing with closed ends and containing an attachment moving mechanism for moving an attachment such as a brush head relative to the handle base and at least one removable attachment such as a brush head for applying flowable matter to a surface, such as lotions, creams and shaving cream for men to user skin.
A first embodiment of the handle base includes an attachment moving mechanism which rotates the brush head about its axis nine degrees in one rotational direction and then stops and reverses and rotates the brush head about its axis a certain number of degrees, and once again preferably nine degrees, in the opposing rotational direction. The attachment rotates back and forth preferably at a frequency of 250 to 400 cycles per second and as a result effectively vibrates, so that this embodiment is referred to as sonic or ultrasonic.
Some embodiments include rotating attachments or rotating attachment elements, while others include reciprocating elements. For all embodiments where reciprocating motion is provided, this motion is always produced by a sonic or ultrasonic reciprocating mechanism such as linear reciprocating mechanism for a removable brush head or other attachment having a return spring. As a result, the attachment mount to which an attachment is affixed and which connects to the reciprocating mechanism always starts from one extreme end of its range of reciprocating motion to produce mono-directional movement. Therefore the neutral position is at one absolute end point of the brush head movement path and therefore can never be crossed, whether the reciprocation is along a linear or curvilinear path or is rotational. The present invention specifically avoids bi-directional movement relative to the neutral position because it is believed that stretching the user skin in only one direction is gentiler to the skin and is best for cleansing and lotion and cream application. The return spring preferably is a resilient strip or panel extending between and is connected to the mechanism housing and the reciprocating attachment mount, such as brush guide arm, although the use of a coil spring or of other equivalent biasing mechanism is contemplated.
The brush head preferably includes a chamber for retaining flowable matter so that the brush head effectively becomes a container. The chamber has a chamber delivery wall with outwardly protruding bristles and with delivery ball ports among the bristles into each of which a matter delivery ball is rotatably seated and retained by ball retaining means to partly protrude through the delivery wall, and has an opposing chamber mounting wall with brush head mounting means for connecting the brush head to the brush head moving mechanism, and having a chamber side wall interconnecting the chamber delivery wall and the chamber mounting wall to form a closed and sealed container for the flowable matter.
A primary contemplated function of the present brush is the application of shaving cream for men. A quantity of such shaving cream is placed in the chamber and deposited onto facial skin by the rolling of the matter delivery balls. Then the bristles rub the deposited shaving cream against user whiskers at sonic frequency, thereby softening the whiskers and lubricating the skin so that they are easily removed by a razor without the need to apply significant force against the skin, providing a close shave without skin abrasions. As an alternative to sonic oscillation of the brush head, the brush head is rotated relative to the skin for a short time in one rotational direction, such as one minute, and then for a short time in the directly opposing rotational direction. In either instance, the shaving cream filled brush is an improvement over the shaving cream tray and hand moved brush used by previous generations of men.
A method is provided of preparing the whiskers on the face of a man for shaving, including the steps of placing a quantity of shaving cream into a chamber within a brush head having bristles, progressively releasing the shaving cream onto facial skin and whiskers while simultaneously moving the bristles over the skin and whiskers, either with brush head rotation reversal at what is referred to herein as sonic speed, thereby softening the whiskers and lubricating the skin.
The brush handle is elongate and contains a brush head drive shaft and a drive shaft passing port through which the drive shaft protrudes from inside the handle and is connected to a brush head rotation assembly within the handle. The brush head rotation assembly includes an assembly annular mounting plate with screw ports for screwing to the inner surface of the handle so that the annular mounting plate surrounds the drive shaft passing port and the drive shaft. The drive shaft rotates freely within and relative to the annular mounting plate. The drive shaft has a shaft inward end connected to an L-shaped drive panel extending radially outward from the drive shaft and then rearwardly where the drive panel connects to a drive disk concentric with the drive shaft and having a radial disk arm with a panel secured to the disk arm free end fitted with two parallel and spaced apart block magnets. A resilient first return spring panel extends between and is connected to the mounting plate and the drive disk and is oriented to extend radially outward from the drive shaft rotational axis, having a slot adjacent to the mounting plate through which the drive panel passes. The first return spring panel preferably tapers from a wider panel end connected to the mounting plate to a narrower panel end connected to the drive disk, because this configuration makes the panel much less susceptible to metal fatigue and cracking, and may also improve twisting and torque characteristics. A resilient second return spring panel preferably is connected to and extends between the mounting plate and the drive disk to add greater twisting resistance and return torque. The second return spring panel preferably tapers at its center, once again because this configuration makes the panel much less susceptible to metal fatigue and cracking, and may also improve twisting and torque characteristics.
A reciprocating rotation mechanism is provided for causing the drive disk and thus the drive shaft to rotate in one rotational direction against the biasing of the first and second return spring panels and then to stop and rotate in the opposing rotational direction, again against the biasing of the first and second return spring panels. Once again, the preferred number of degrees the brush head rotation assembly and drive shaft are rotated in each rotational direction is nine degrees.
A retracting ball delivery apparatus for flowable material such as creams, lotion, medications and vitamins is further provided. The apparatus includes a delivery retracting ball and ball assembly and a cartridge containing flowable material and in fluid communication with the ball assembly and ball. The ball assembly preferably includes a ball assembly inner shell having a distally located ball port smaller in diameter than the ball into which the ball seats from outside the ball assembly inner shell and a spring within the assembly inner shell bearing against and biasing the ball to retractably and rotatably seat in the ball port, and a cartridge mount to which an open end of a material cartridge is sealingly and removably fitted. Material is delivered from the cartridge to the retracting ball through the ball assembly inner shell, such that dragging the ball over a target surface causes the ball to rotate while retracting against the biasing of the spring so that material deposited on the ball within the assembly inner shell rolls out between the ball and port rim as the ball rotates against the target surface, carrying a uniform film or layer of material and depositing it on the target surface. The novel retractability of the biased ball, a key feature of the present invention, permits the material to exit the assembly housing on the ball while the ball is pressed against a target surface such as user skin, because the biased ball bears against the rim of the ball outer shell port and seals against release of material when there is no force against the ball from a target surface, so that material is only dispensed when the ball is in contact with a surface intended to receive the material.
The assembly inner shell includes an inner shell side wall which preferably is cone-shaped or funnel-shaped having at its narrower distal end the ball port and at its wider proximal end an assembly inner shell end wall with a central assembly inner shell material receiving opening. A tubular material passageway preferably is attached to the assembly inner shell end wall and protrudes distally from and encircles the material receiving opening. The ball spring preferably is a coil spring slidably fitted around the material passageway, which acts as a spring retaining guide, so that the ball spring is always compressed between the ball and the assembly inner shell end wall. The cartridge mount preferably includes a tubular cartridge fitting protruding proximally from the assembly inner shell end wall and also encircles the material receiving opening. A material cartridge preferably is a hollow cylinder and the cartridge open end preferably is the at a cartridge distal end, and this cartridge distal end fits snugly and engagingly into the tubular cartridge fitting to place the cartridge in fluid communication with the assembly inner shell through the material receiving opening. The cartridge open end preferably has a reduced diameter to define a cartridge neck and a cartridge shoulder at the cartridge distal end.
The ball assembly inner shell is releasably secured to a tubular apparatus housing, and the cartridge extends from the assembly inner shell inside the apparatus housing. It is preferred that the ball assembly includes an assembly outer shell of translucent plastic with a ball opening at the apparatus housing distal end registering with and of at least the diameter of the ball port, and a tubular outer shell lip segment protruding proximally beyond the ball assembly inner shell. The outer shell lip segment preferably has internal threads which are sized to mesh with external threads on the apparatus housing distal end so that the ball assembly inner shell can be screwed onto and off of the apparatus housing to provide access to change an empty material cartridge and to perform any other desired maintenance.
The ball preferably is formed of stainless steel. The apparatus housing and assembly inner shell preferably are formed of aluminum.
When the target surface is user skin, a preferred feature of the apparatus in addition to the retracting ball is a ball charging circuit delivering a small electric voltage and current to the ball to stimulate the user skin during application of the material. An electric power source is connected to the cartridge and to the conductive material within the cartridge through an apparatus circuit, so that the material conducts and delivers electric voltage and current to the ball. A switch preferably is included in the apparatus circuit and preferably is mounted to the apparatus housing to be operable from outside the housing, and controls the flow of electric current to the ball weather to start or stop the current or to control its magnitude. The switch preferably is a spring-loaded button which closes the circuit to deliver current to the ball only while depressed by a user finger. The power source preferably is at least one battery such as conventional AAA batteries which are retained in a battery region within the apparatus housing, and located either distally or proximally of the material cartridge. A removable battery access cap preferably is provided at the apparatus housing proximal end which can be unscrewed from the apparatus housing to release spent batteries and to permit insertion of new batteries in their place. Within the battery access cap is an battery spring in the form of a distally protruding coil spring which bears against the proximal end of the nearest battery.
One version of the apparatus places the cartridge between the batteries and the assembly inner shell, so that the cartridge is directly fitted to the assembly inner shell as above described. The cartridge is replaced by unscrewing the assembly outer shell from the apparatus housing and pulling the cartridge free of the cartridge mount, and fitting an fresh, full cartridge to the cartridge mount as described.
Another version of the apparatus places the cartridge at the proximal end of the apparatus housing, proximal of the batteries, so that the exposed and protruding from the apparatus housing. An advantage of this version is that the user can continually visually monitor the amount of material remaining in a transparent cartridge, and replace the cartridge when spent without having to open the apparatus housing. For this version, the apparatus housing has an apparatus housing proximal end wall with a material passing opening similar to the material receiving opening in the assembly inner shell end wall and a tubular cartridge fitting into which the cartridge distal end snugly, engagingly sealingly and removably fits. A material delivery tube preferably carries the material from the cartridge distally through the interior of the apparatus housing and into the assembly inner shell.
A preferred additional feature of the apparatus is a vibrating element contained within the apparatus housing and connected to the apparatus circuit for causing the ball to vibrate or pulsate. Operation of the vibrating element preferably is controlled by the same switch controlling the delivery of electric current to the ball, although it is contemplated that vibrating element operation may be controlled by a separate switch. The vibrating element may be of any suitable design, and a preferred vibrating element includes the electric motor with a weight eccentrically mounted to the motor drive shaft.
The inventive retracting ball assembly also is optionally affixed to or incorporated into devices of other configurations. This version of the apparatus includes two vibrating and independently pivoting arms and a ball assembly incorporated into each arm free end.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have long been brushes for spreading cosmetic materials over the skin of a user. A problem with these prior brushes has been that the cosmetics materials are usually not spread over the skin evenly. Another problem has been that these brushes do not retain the material to be distributed, so that time is lost transferring quantities of the material to the skin. Finally, those that are electric and automatically rotate a brush head only rotate the head about four degrees in each rotational direction, which is inadequate to sufficiently deposit and spread cosmetic materials.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a lotion and cream application brush and brush head which delivers flowable matter over user skin evenly.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a brush and brush head which does not waste flowable matter such as expensive cosmetic creams.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a brush head which retains a lotion or cream to be applied, and which meters out the lotion or cream as the brush is drawn across the user skin.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a flowable material delivery apparatus which meters out a substantially uniform layer of material onto a target surface such as user skin with a rotating, retracting ball, so that coverage is complete and yet no material is wasted.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide such a flowable material delivery apparatus which is neat to use because it delivers material from easily replaceable cartridges so that no direct application with fingers is needed.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide such a flowable material delivery apparatus which can mount rotating attachments such a brush heads to a handle base containing a motor and an attachment mount including the motor drive shaft to rotate the entire brush head, or so that the attachment remains fixed relative to the base handle and elements of the attachment rotate relative to the remainder of the attachment such as brush heads, or so that the attachment moves linearly or rotationally back and forth in a reciprocating motion mono-directionally from a neutral point at one extreme end of the path of reciprocation.
It is finally an object of the present invention to provide such a brush and brush head which are relatively simple in construction and inexpensive to manufacture.